"Then help me prove her right, Tori." He said giving her his hand.
Tori and the rest of the team are in the barracks building eating after the long battle they have just fought.
"Hey Tori, you seemed a bit shaky. You alright?" John asked.
"Yeah, I am fine." Tori answers.
"I am sorry," John said out of nowhere.
"Why?" Tori asked.
"Jade died as a result of my cowardice in giving out the locations, Helena, Alex, and Farah would not have been with us if they hadn't changed their location as soon as they learned that I had been captured. I am sorry for not being brave enough. I saw my wife and child and broke down. And the worst thing is, they killed them anyway. Jade died for nothing, because of me."
"No, John, she did not die in vain. That will not be the end of my story. They will all pay for your family, for Jade. I forgave you the day we found you at the stronghold, so stop blaming yourself for something you were forced to do. Jade wouldn't want that." Tori said.
"Back at Verdansk, when we were escaping... We knew escaping was a suicide plan, But..." John paused.
He looked at Ghost who was far away talking to West.
"We knew Ghost was still with us, That gave us hope." John said "And now," He looked at Tori " We have two of them to give us hope."
Tori smiled.
"You should go be with West, Man recently discovered that his wife, whom he thought was dead for 12 years, is alive and well. Despite the fact that he is not on good terms with her, she is his wife. You should go speak with him. Assist him in preparing to question Catherine. "
Tori nodded. She finishes eating fast, she has to be there when they interrogate Catherine.
She approaches Ghost and West, who were beside a jeep, talking about something.
"I should've been a better father. Jade deserved a better father. It was my job to protect her Ghost, not yours."
"I have a duty to protect all of them, West. I've already failed her. I can't keep failing. We need to find those labs and devise a safe way to infiltrate them. We cannot repeat the same mistake again. Catherine knows those labs, She isn't cooperating, you can make her do that."
"I know, but after everything she has done, I can't look at her and say she was my wife once," West said.
"But she is a mother, even though everything she has done, I believe she still loved Jade. We have to use that against her to make her spill out about the facilities." Ghost said.
"But I didn't give Jade enough time to know anything about her. I don't even know what her likes or dislikes were." West expressed his regret.
"I know," Tori said stepping in, " I know everything about Jade."
Ghost and West looked at her.
Ghost nodded.
"Good then, Tori and I will go in." Ghost said and left.
Tori was about to leave too but West stopped her.
"Tori. I am sorry, for everything that has happened. I am sorry for not giving Jade any affection, I stayed away from her because I thought even if the shadows existed, they would've targeted me first. Not her. I wish I had told her once how much I love her and am proud of her."
"Jade would've loved to hear that," Tori said,
"But she isn't here now, and the blame is ours, mine, yours, even Ghost's, But one mistake can't be the reason for the end. We can redeem ourselves, I am trying, Ghost is too. You should also try." Tori said and left with Ghost.
"Are you ready?" Ghost asked,
"No, but I have to be," Tori answered.
"Tell me about the children." Price said.
Catherine lets out a tired sigh.
"You already know everything."
"You kidnapped them at the age of 6," Price said.
She remembers seeing a kid on a playground, fighting against 4 kids older and stronger than him, protecting his friend.
"Children's minds are more easily accepting of indoctrination, their bodies more adaptable to augmentation. The result was the ultimate soldier." She finally said,
"And because of our success, when war comes, we will be ready."
"You took their lives away from them, to turn them into whatever they are now."
" I gave them a purpose to serve and protect. I didn't care what my superiors wanted to do with them, I wanted to make them strong and indestructible. I didn't create them as weapons. "
"So you feel your actions justified enough for you to use your own child as a lab rat."
Catherine looked at him with anger and hatred.
"What does Jade have to do with it?"
"She paid for something you created," Ghost said as he got into the room.
"We all did." He added.
"141." Tori heard Catherine as she got in following Ghost.
"Price, We can take it from here." Ghost said,
"Good cop, bad cop yeh?" Price asked as he got up to leave.
"It's bad cop, worse cop." Ghost said.
"Can't be any better." Price chuckled as he left.
"Si.." Catherine was about to say something but Ghost interrupted her.
"We don't have to talk about our past. What you did to us, is already done. But you don't have to do that anymore. Just tell us about the shadow company." Ghost said.
"Jade... Did she..?" Catherine asked.
"She did her part." Ghost said as he looked down.
Catherine sighed as she looked at her hands.
"How..? Back in Verdansk?" Catherine asked.
"No, We escaped safely. She grew up in Los Angeles, The shadows wanted something from her. They got her killed 8 months ago." Ghost said coldly. Tori closed her eyes.
"The shadows. I made the shadows. Doctor Jonathan Irons and I. His son was killed in Iran. He was devastated, and he came to me with a plan to create unkillable soldiers. I was intrigued because it was a noble effort to accelerate human evolution. I never intended to kidnap children for my job; Jonathan did it, but that doesn't make me any less responsible for what I did to you. When you fled with the child, Jonathan and I escaped in a VTOL chopper with our work. But after the place was destroyed and those children's lives were lost for nothing, I refused to help any longer, so he imprisoned me, forced me into spilling up about the child. The perfect child who he could clone into making an army." Catherine said.
"He obviously didn't want anyone else to get the sample of Jade's perfect DNA. So he took her out." Ghost said as he put the pieces together.
Tori can see tears form in Catherine's eyes.
"My work.. killed Jade." she cried.
"Jade looked up to you, you know?" Tori said.
"How do you know? Who are you?" Catherine asked.
"Someone who was very close to Jade," Tori answered.
"Why would she look up to me after everything I've done?" Catherine asked.
"She had an accident while escaping Verdansk, and lost her memories. West hid her past from her and told her you died in a car accident" Ghost said.
"Jade was the most amazing girl I ever knew, and even if she hadn't lost her memories, I know she would've loved you with all of her heart," Tori said.
"And she would've wanted you to help us find those hidden labs and save those kids," Tori added.
Catherine looked down as she took a deep breath.
"I never wanted to hurt her, That's why I created the child, who Jade loved enough to leave me and help you, which I am grateful for because now we have a chance to make amends for my mistakes. I am proud of her. I will give you the locations and a way to stop them." Catherine said.
Tori smiled behind her mask. Even after death, Jade is helping them.
But her instincts quickly became cautious. As she heard a beeping go on, and something was thrown into the room.
"GET DOWN!" Ghost yelled as the thing blew up and Tori was blinded. All she can hear is a loud beeping in her ears, In her blur visual she saw the ceiling blowing up and a group of armoured soldiers rappeling down, Ghost immediately started fighting them and taking them down, and that was when Tori noticed, two of the soldiers. One of them was the Templar, and the other had the same helmet and armor as The Templar but the body figure said its a female. Tori gathered all her strength and charged in, slide-kicking Templar's leg trying to tackle him, But he didn't even flinch, he just turned around and grabbed her neck and threw her on the wall. Ghost was fighting well still Templar and the other one were still heavy on him. While Templar was fighting Ghost, the other one stepped back and approached Catherine, who was hiding behind the table. She pulled out her gun to shoot Catherine, and Tori immediately pulled out her Deagle to fire. The other knight is armored, but Deagle has enough firepower to take her down. She fired, but her gun was kicked away, causing her to miss. Furious, she looked who it was, possibly Templar, but she didn't expect to see Ghost, why did he do that? Tori noticed Templar hitting Ghost in the back of the head. Ghost had been knocked out. She heard Catherine's scream and a gunshot. Catherine has been shot by the other one. She looked at Tori, She had her gun but did not shoot her.
"Gold Eagle, this is Templar, Job's done, Catherine's dead, Rendezvous at the extraction point, ETA 5 minutes."
"I would've loved to shoot you Ghost, but he has plans for you." He said to the unconscious demon and repelled back up. Tori looked for the other knight but she was gone too. Tori stood up and ran out the door; she had to catch him; Templar would not escape alive.
She tried to communicate with the team but nothing came through her headphones. She saw the knight on the roof, jumping down and getting on a Cagiva 125, roaring the engine and driving away. Tori quickly looked around and saw another bike; she had only driven a scooter before. But this was her only chance; Ghost had taught her how to hotwire bikes and other vehicles, so starting the engine was simple.
Back in the interrogation room, Ghost woke up, he saw Catherine bleeding in the corner of the room, he ran to her,
"Catherine... John, Helena, does anyone read me? I need a medic!" He yelled but no reply came in.
"God damn it!" he cursed,
"The phoenix, you have to find the phoenix.." Catherine mumbled.
"What? Catherine? What phoenix? Catherine!" He asked, but Catherine has already taken her last breath.
"Ghost! I can see you on the cameras! The shadows have rigged our comms, this is the only way I can talk to you." Roach's voice came through the speakers in the room.
"Tori went after Templar, You have to go help her, she won't make it alone. We are pinned down by the shadows, You are on your own."
Tori followed the Templar into the jungle. It was difficult to maintain balance in the muddy jungle, but the bike was designed for this purpose, so that helped her. When Templar noticed her, Tori pulled out her pistol and fired There is something that she had, that no one saw, Luck. The bullet went for the back tire as it blew up, causing Templar to lose balance and collide with a tree,
Tori holds the brake handles and kills the engine of her bike, she jumps off.
Templar is still lying there, back against the tree, looking at her coming
"You aren't a Ghost, Who are you?" He asked.
"I became a Ghost because you took everything from me," Tori said greeting her teeth,
Templar chuckles,
"I might have enjoyed that then."
Anger overtakes her mind as she takes out her knife and tries to stab Templar but he blocks the knife and knocks her down to the ground, He gets up, takes the knife and stabs her in the chest, and Tori groans in pain.
He takes out his empty magnum and loads a bullet in.
"Do you know a saying about revenge? "You better be ready to dig two graves." "
He points the gun at her and locks the hammer.
He pulls the trigger, but just as the bullet moves into the chamber Ghost runs in and knocks away Templar, causing the bullet to miss, saving Tori. He kicks away the gun and he begins to fight hand-to-hand with Templar
"You don't know when to quit, do you, Ghost?" Templar said.
"I am ready to dig two graves." Ghost said as he charged towards Templar, her vision fades in and out as she sees Ghost and Templar continue to fight. She was starting to feel sleepy, "blood-loss" she muttered, as she saw the knife plunged into her chest, She looked up to see Ghost taking Templar's magnum and shooting him in the head. His helmet saved him but his helmet glass cracked and fell onto the ground. Tori could see his soulless eyes. It was getting harder to breathe for Tori every second. She looks at the moon in the night sky, Her Jade, She made a promise to her Jade.
"I am sorry Jade, I failed you." She whispered.
As she laid there, bleeding, waiting for death to come, she noticed a figure beside Ghost and Templar. Helena? John? Roach? She tries to focus, she looks at the figure, a girl, who is ignoring Ghost and Templar's brawl, and slowly walking near her. She kneels beside her, takes her hand,
The touch, she would never forget this touch.
Tori looked up to see who it was, then noticed, those emotion-filled blue-green eyes,
Jade
Her Jade.
Tori looked at Jade, taking every detail of her in this split second. Jade smiled as she took her hand, she slowly put it on the knife that was plunged into her chest,
Tori understood what she has to do, She nodded. Jade nodded back.
With her last bit of strength, she pulled. She grabbed the knife with both hands and pulled it out, blood coming from her wound but she doesn't care.
She looks at Templar who was on top of Ghost, punching him again and again.
She aims the knife at him.
"For Jade." She throws the knife at the man who killed the love of her life.
The knife landed in Templar's left eye through his broken helmet, killing him. his body falls backwards as blood gushes out of his face.
Tori looked at the position where Jade was, only to find her gone, it was her stupid mind playing a trick on her last moments, at least she can finally say to Jade when she finds her in the afterlife.
"I did it, Jade." She whispered as darkness filled her eyes.
.
.
.
"It's not over, Not yet, Tori."